Banana bread, Dalgona coffee, mini pancakes – these are just some of the trends that have stormed through Instagram in the months since COVID challenged and changed our everyday lives. It speaks volumes, the way food had the ability to connect across nations, languages, and ages. The sense of comfort you get from a bowl of warm, fresh food is irreplaceable and it’s obvious why the need for cooking tutorials and cooking gadgets has increased multifold in this period (yes, I’m sure the closing of your fav neighborhood diner also played a part here). To help you meet your new standards of cooking, we have curated the best kitchen appliances that will be your sous chef as you go about making that perfect plate of worthy that will satisfy your tummy as well as your IG feed!
Ordine by Adriano Design is an innovative cooking solution designed for the modern user. Optimized for small spaces, the design eliminates the need for a bulky traditional stove, clearing the way for more cabinet and counter space. The design features two hob units that are mounted on a central power hub on the wall. Elevated neatly out of the way, the user must simply grab one or both hobs off the wall and set the desired temperature to activate.
Dubbed the Dome, this compact oven by Gozney is very versatile. It is a professional-grade outdoor oven designed to work effortlessly for experienced chefs and novice ones alike. Whether you have guests over on a Sunday afternoon or have a family dinner, Gozney Dome can be there to take care of the cooking needs as long you have wood to burn. Even though wood-fired cooking is ideal in an outdoor setting, if that’s not what the kids want – turn the dial and switch to the built-in gas burner and continue cooking at temperatures up to 500°C. You can roast, steam, smoke, bake or BBQ inside the 25- x 24- x 28-inch Dome that includes a digital thermometer – a big upgrade over gimmicky ovens designed for the outdoors!
This 3-in-1 dishwasher design by Fotile hides your dishwasher and dryer elegantly by welding it to your stainless steel sink. The dishwasher has a larget fillet that facilitates accelerated rotation of water flow to improve the efficiency of wash cycles. Another great perk of it being fitted in your sink is that it reduces the hassle of cleaning inside the appliance. It also has a flat embedded ‘lid’ which makes it easy for you to keep your countertop clean while not sacrificing surface space. Apart from killing 99.99% of bacteria from the dishes, it also doubles up as a fruit and vegetable purifier. Using ultrasonic technology and a turbulent spray, it removes 90% of pesticide residue from your produce. This dishwasher claims to have no blind spots – 360-degree cleaning and drying!
The “Caliber Box” by Yohan Lansard keeps your spaghetti fresh and makes it easier for you to know what is the recommended pasta portion for a party of 1, 2, or 4! It’s a ‘recommended’ portion that comes on the store-bought box, but truly we all know there’s no portion when it comes to pasta. However, if you have to ration out your stock of spaghetti, or not overfeed your child, or maybe still try to get that summer body ready (like me, still trying!) then this measuring-storage container can do the math for you.
The science behind this rotating colander by Equilibric is simple. It is designed to keep the inner bowl always upright. And because of this, when you drain off the water, the outer bowl discharged the water, while the inner bowl keeps everything upright and safe. Another big advantage of this design is that it is very helpful when you want to defrost food. The outer bowl collects the defrost water and saves your countertop from stains. Lastly, the colander can be used as a serving dish, thanks to the food-safe materials it has been crafted from. My style of cooking requires a lot of cleaning of veggies and fruits, so I completely resonate with the solution this colander provides.
Designed to slide right into any regular oven or be placed on a pellet grill, smoker, or even a campfire, the ROTO-Q 360 by Susie Wen is a foldable spring-operated rotating spit that doesn’t use electricity, fuel, or gas. It comes with an easy-to-store foldable design that opens out and fits in any standard oven. The spring-loaded gearbox at one end lets you set the rotating time, while a set of skewers let you mount your meat right onto the ROTO-Q 360 and into the oven. All you do then is run the oven like you normally would, and your roast-chicken turns into a fancy rotisserie chicken. The rotating setup helps your meat cook evenly while staying incredibly juicy on the inside, because the fat with it keeps getting circulated within the meat. For the excess fats that drip off the meat, the ROTO-Q 360 features a nifty bed-tray below the rotating skewers… a design detail that has two-fold benefits. Not only does the dripping fat make your meat less oily (and more healthy), you can even layer the bed-tray with veggies and have them cook right in the fat, giving you rotisserie meat and roasted veggies all in one single cook!
Arguably an iPhone moment for toasters, the Bruno isn’t three separate appliances, but rather a 3-in-1. Looking nothing like a toaster, or an oven, and probably a little like a grill, the Bruno replaces three appliances with one and adds a splash of vibrancy and color while doing so. The Bruno comes as a clamshell appliance with a lid that hinges back when you open it. With heating coils on the base as well as the lid, you can use the Bruno just like an oven (except this opens differently) by even choosing which heating plate you want to activate. A grill plate sits in the middle, holding your meats or vegetables on it as you grill them just like you would on a barbecue grill. Open the lid, fire the lower coil, and you’ve got yourself an impromptu grill that works well with all sorts of food. Close the lid and activate both heating coils and you’ve got a toaster that toasts bread kept horizontally!
The genius of the Visual Measuring Cups is that not only do they provide a fixed, standard measurement, but they’re also visually indicative too. Designed by Pam Daniels to look like the fractions they represent, the cups make it easier to understand measurements. The quarter cup is quadrant-shaped, the half-cup is semi-circular. This sheer sensibility makes it quicker to measure out multiple ingredients without worrying about whether your measurements are accurate, because you know for sure they are! The Visual Measuring Cups turn textual references into visual references, helping us understand the measurements better. While most measuring beakers and cups use indicative lines to ‘tell’ you how much half a cup is, the Visual Measuring Cup ‘shows’ you how much half a cup us, giving you a quicker, better understanding of fractional metrics.
The ICEY by Yehuda Azoulay and Elad Rash is a nifty little container that’s tall enough to fit right into your freezer. Inside it is an automatic churner that works just like an ice-cream maker does. Pour your drink into the ICEY and stash it in the freezer for up to 90 minutes and the ICEY turns it into an instant granita. As the cold temperatures freeze your drink, the ICEY continuously churns it, turning into a flavorful snowy, crushed-ice beverage. It retains and amps up the flavors because you’re not adding any extra ice to it… you’re just turning it into ice instead… and unlike simply placing a bottle of juice into a freezer and turning into a popsicle, the ICEY makes sure the resulting beverage is semisolid like a slushie, and can be sipped through a straw.
Rather than living with that old, rancid, smelly trash for 3-4 days, the Alone food-waste processor by Designer Dot & Hyeona Cho helps provide a discreet way of disposing of small amounts of food at a time. Its unique right-angled triangular shape helps it easily fit into a corner of your kitchen, and its tall design makes it easy to remove the waste-bin and chuck your stuff in without bending over too much. A heating plate at the base helps accelerate the composting process, breaking food down into a crumbly mulch as little as 30 days (instead of the regular 5-6 months), while an air outlet on the top helps let gases on the inside escape, but not before passing it through a HEPA and Activated Carbon filter to take out those microorganisms and odor molecules, keeping your kitchen odor-free and safe!
We know it’s not a gadget, but just look at this cupboard! The Muzhi cupboard by designer Yen-Hao, Chu is made of three main parts that the owner can assemble or disassemble according to their needs. The upper part of the cupboard is semi-open where the right side can be used to store tableware and the left side can be used for potted plants as it is open on three sides which allows for ample sunlight. The middle area is an open spacious section that can be used as a sideboard, a small bar counter, or a place to keep small and medium-sized appliances like a kettle, coffee maker, or toaster. Meanwhile, the lower section has a partly glazed left-hand drawer to let the owner see what’s stored inside and the large tray area on the right-hand side can be used to store pot covers or everyday utensils. Details like the solid timber handrail and hanging rails were added to provide a neat place for towels and wine glasses.
If innovative kitchen designs are your thing, check out more of these designs here!
